The Healthy Start scheme is an NHS initiative to help parents of young children, to eat more healthily.

To be eligible, you must be a parent of a child under the age of 4 and in receipt of at least one of the following benefits

• Universal credit (where your take-home pay is £408 or less per month)
• Child tax credit (family annual income is £16,190 or less)
• Income support
• income-based jobseeker’s allowance
• Pension credit (the child addition)
• Working tax credit or income-related employment & support allowance.

If your application is successful, you receive a pre-paid card, which allows you to buy milk, vegetables, formula milk or vitamins. The NHS add money to your healthy start card every 4 weeks (£8.50 per child under 1 year old, £4.25 per child between 1 and 4 years old).